What develops in working memory? A life span perspective

This study investigated whether working-memory (WM) span differences across age are attributable to specific or general processing functions. The study compared 9 age groups (6, 8, 10, 13, 16, 24, 35, 45, 57 years) on verbal and visuospatial WM performance under initial (no probes or cues), gain (cues that bring performance to an asymptotic level), and maintenance conditions (asymptotic conditions without cues). (a) Age-related performance differences in WM were found across all conditions and were not isolated to specific processes, (b) significant performance differences remained among age groups on gain and maintenance conditions, and (c) the gain (accessing new information) and maintenance conditions (maintenance of old information) for verbal and visuospatial WM tasks contributed independent variance to age-related performance. The results support a general capacity explanation of age-related differences. These differences in capacity reflect demands placed on both the accessing of new information and the maintenance of old information.